This is a notebook and guide for learners of English as a second or overseas language, all over the earth. Most of the writings here are in Basic English, first designed by C. K. Ogden, using 850 necessary words and a number of international words only.
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Why Said?
His last name, when it was put into writing with Roman letters, went like S-A-I-D, but the sound was like "sa-ee-d." It was not like "sed," the past form of "say." It was probably an Arabian name. He had, however, a common English name for his first: Edward.

Edward Said was a Christian from Palestine, expert of English writings, and noted voice on Middle-East political discussion.

Some of his books are on the lists by a great number of readers and university teachers working on prose fiction and on international relations. Knowledge of his ideas will be an important backdrop for discussion of international language or teaching English.

Empires of the Mind, the book by Rodney Koeneke, gives an account of what I. A. Richards did in China, in the light of the theory outlined by Said. For the purpose of coming to grips with Dr. Koeneke's book, it will be necessary to go through some books by Edward Said.

I'm reading his Culture and Imperialism, a book on noted English writings and their political backdrop. It's about 360 pages long, but it's not a simple book to go through.

So I will put what I have taken from my day-to-day reading of the book, bits of my thoughts and feelings of the book.

| Reading Edward Said | 17:00 | comments(0) | trackbacks(0) | pookmark |
Culture and Imperialism: The Book
Culture and Imperialism

This is the book. You may get a copy at any international bookstore online. The cover picture is a bookmark to Amazon.co.jp.


| Reading Edward Said | 09:10 | comments(0) | - | pookmark |
What Is Culture?
Culture, first of all, is farming: giving food to animals, making plants take roots in the fertile land, helping their growth, and getting more food.

Culture, frequently, is development in the society: ways and tendency of living, working or playing. It's like farming: the land and the weather make the tendency.

Culture, most of all, is fruit of the society: development of arts, music and writings.

Said's book I'm reading is about culture, or arts, specially prose fiction of noted British writers, and how those works took Britain's relations with other countries.

| Reading Edward Said | 05:46 | comments(2) | - | pookmark |
English Prose Fiction
There are two different sorts of long fiction stories in English language: romance and novel.

Romance is long story, in verse or prose, about someone, long time back or in a far-a-way place, doing something special. The person is generally of a high birth, very good looking or with a special quality. A romance is frequently a love story or an accout of a long journey. Romance has a very long history. One of the most noted examples in English is the stories of King Arthur and his men of the round table, by Thomas Malory.

Novel is new sort of romance in prose, about a common person in nearer times in a place not so far away from the reader. It's generally fiction with a taste of true stories: the persons in the story are like the ones living in your town, doing common things every day.

Edward Said sees the development of English novels with the development of England ruling over other nations. Their going out on ships gave birth to Robinson Crusoe, the bridge from English romance to novel, or, in a way, the first English novel.

Robinson Crusoe, though most of the story takes place in a far-a-way land, is more like a true story: the common man Robinson gives an account of his experience in simpler English with everyday details.

After Robinson Crusoe, Britain had a number of new writers giving out novels. Those noted English novels were chiefly about persons in England, with some connection from countries ruled by England. What is strange and interesting is most of the persons in the novels, and most of university teachers working on those writings, are not conscious of the strong power-connection which was the physical base of English culture.
| Reading Edward Said | 11:21 | comments(0) | trackbacks(0) | pookmark |
Said on Culture
Reading Culture and Imperialism, a book by Edward W. Said, I came across an interesting account of culture:

But the history of all cultures
is the history of cultural borrowings.
Cultures are not impermeable;
just as Western science borrowed from Arabs,
they had borrowed from India and Greece.
Culture is never just a matter of ownership,
of borrowing and lending with
absolute debtors and creditors,
but rather of appropriations,
common experiences,
and interdependencies of all kinds
among different cultures.
This is a universal norm.
Who has yet determined
how much the domination of others
contributed to the enormous wealth
of the English and French states? (217; Chapter 3.2)


For more...
| Reading Edward Said | 15:04 | comments(0) | - | pookmark |
Imperialism
I've been reading, on and off,
Culture and Imperialism,
a long book by Edward S. Said.
It's a hard book to go through,
but still interesting.

For more...
| Reading Edward Said | 16:12 | comments(0) | trackbacks(0) | pookmark |
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